Pvt airlines to fly to SE Asia from Apr

January 20, 2005 09:46 IST

Four Indian carriers, including Air-India, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines, filed their flight plans with the civil aviation ministry to get timely clearance to fly to additional foreign destinations in summer.

Private carriers are planning to launch operations to destinations in South East Asia from April, when the summer schedule comes into operation. The major destinations they have applied for include Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Airline sources said they also planned to fly to places in the UK when the winter schedule comes into force in September-October this year.

The destinations that Air-India has applied for include Los Angeles, Chicago, Australia, Shanghai, London, and Dhaka.

All the airlines, including the public sector ones, are acquiring aircraft through lease and purchase to launch these international flights.

Air-India is looking at taking on lease about 10 aircraft for the additional flights. "We are ready to induct five aircraft. However, the rest will depend upon the availability of aircraft in the market," Air-India's Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasi Das said.

The government had recently decided to allow private airlines to fly abroad, provided they had 20 aircraft and had

operated at least five years in the domestic sector.

These airlines are to be given clearances by various authorities, including the directorate-general

of civil aviation and the bureau of civil aviation security, before they can start foreign operations.

The

South East Asian nations as well as the UK have already decided to allow private Indian airlines to operate. Indian authorities have also decided to grant "designated status" to multiple airlines to be its flagship carriers.

The

bilateral rights would be allocated to these airlines on the basis of the average seat per kilometre concept under which the more the carriers fly within India, the more would be the rights granted to them to fly abroad.

The

recent agreement with the US would come into operation only in February when a US delegation comes here to sign it.